IT’S EASY TO DEVELOP a deep resentment towards certain Lake District signs.
You know the ones I mean: those that say, “Public Footpath: Blencathra 2 miles” and pretty quickly you’re questioning whether it really said two or could it have been a seven, or maybe it was actually twenty!
When it could just as easily be a ‘7’!
Well, that’s all part of the fun, as any Lakeland rambler knows, although it can be a test of whether you’re truly enjoying the journey, or just trying to get the damn thing climbed and have done with it.
As I like taking photos and writing about pretty much anything that comes to mind, long-suffering signposts hold a special place in my heart. Covered in lichen or with the wood half rotting or the paint peeling and cracked to kingdom come, they’re a joy to behold and a lozenge for my weary lens.
As I said at the beginning, I found it hard to think that I’d only gone two miles from here to get to the summit.
There’s also a nagging feeling in my mind that I photographed this on my Latrigg walk rather than on my actual Blencathra conquest.
All my photos from my summer trip merge into one another now in a murky blur of mist and bog. But Blencathra’s just next to Latrigg, isn’t it, so my confusion is understandable, I reckon.
I’m going to have to be super-well organised on my upcoming trip at the end of October, when I hope to add quite a few more Wainwrights to my Progress Log. Taking tons of shots is addictively fun.
Classifying them and getting rid of the 90% which don’t make the grade is less so. But as I tell my Smartphone Photography Masterclass (Oh yeah!) students, that’s the discipline! But it’s so hard to throw out almost all of my babies, and it takes so long… but it’s worth it in the end.
Happy snapping!
The Laggard of Lakeland 
(Lakeland Chronicles No.18)
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Wainwright Log: 2 of 214 Fells Felled / 0 Books Bashed / Visit Log
